This document summarizes a research study on the challenges of teaching English to young learners in primary schools in Kuwait. The study collected data through surveys of 20 English teachers and interviews/observations of teachers in 5 educational areas of Kuwait. The main challenges identified were lack of teacher training, inadequate resources, large class sizes that make communicative language teaching difficult, exams that focus on grammar over skills, and limited use of English in and outside the classroom. The researchers concluded that teachers face significant obstacles in teaching English to young learners locally in Kuwait.
For those ELT teachers who are carrying out reading classes at the level of primary school or teaching ELLs, I highly recommend you to peruse and take a look at this approach because it focuses on the teaching of language arts, which is the teaching reading and writing.
language learning :
It is the result of direct instruction in the rules of language
And it certainly is not an age-appropriate activity for young learners.
In language learning, students have conscious knowledge of the new language and can talk about that knowledge.
They can fill in the blanks on a grammar page.
language acquisition :
Children acquire language through a subconscious process during which they are unaware of grammatical rules.
They readily acquire the language to communicate with friends.
In order to acquire language, the learner needs a source of natural communication. The emphasis is on the text of the communication and not on the form.
Young students who are in the process of acquiring English get plenty of “on the job” practice.
For those ELT teachers who are carrying out reading classes at the level of primary school or teaching ELLs, I highly recommend you to peruse and take a look at this approach because it focuses on the teaching of language arts, which is the teaching reading and writing.
language learning :
It is the result of direct instruction in the rules of language
And it certainly is not an age-appropriate activity for young learners.
In language learning, students have conscious knowledge of the new language and can talk about that knowledge.
They can fill in the blanks on a grammar page.
language acquisition :
Children acquire language through a subconscious process during which they are unaware of grammatical rules.
They readily acquire the language to communicate with friends.
In order to acquire language, the learner needs a source of natural communication. The emphasis is on the text of the communication and not on the form.
Young students who are in the process of acquiring English get plenty of “on the job” practice.
THIS IS A METHOD OF APPLIED LANGUAGE TEACHING METHODS. IT HAS BOTH MANY ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES. WE WORKED ON HARDLY WITH MY GROUP. HOPE IT WILL BE USEFUL FOR EVERYONE.
Teaching and learning vocabulary is an integral part of foreign language learning since it is the basic sub-skill for someone who wants to learn a foreign language. Thus, it is essential to teach English vocabulary at an early age since students still in the scope of their golden age, and they could learn everything easily. In this case, the teachers' teaching strategy seems essential to be concerned. Moreover, this descriptive qualitative study as a case study is designed to explore the Qur'an Learning Center teachers' perspective on the strategy used to teach vocabulary to young learners. The data were gathered through a semi-structured interview with two English Teachers at the Qur'an Learning Center, one of the elementary schools in Jakarta Selatan. The result of this study revealed that teachers believe that teaching strategy is essential for teaching vocabulary to young learners. Thus, the teachers have various strategies that can be applied for teaching vocabulary to young learners, for example, using games, sing a song, and others. Also, the teachers used interesting media like video, a real thing, pictures, and others. Those strategies are effective in engaging students to learn new vocabulary in English. This study is expected to give reference and knowledge for the English teacher who teaches young learners so they could implement some suitable ways with their real class.
THIS IS A METHOD OF APPLIED LANGUAGE TEACHING METHODS. IT HAS BOTH MANY ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES. WE WORKED ON HARDLY WITH MY GROUP. HOPE IT WILL BE USEFUL FOR EVERYONE.
Teaching and learning vocabulary is an integral part of foreign language learning since it is the basic sub-skill for someone who wants to learn a foreign language. Thus, it is essential to teach English vocabulary at an early age since students still in the scope of their golden age, and they could learn everything easily. In this case, the teachers' teaching strategy seems essential to be concerned. Moreover, this descriptive qualitative study as a case study is designed to explore the Qur'an Learning Center teachers' perspective on the strategy used to teach vocabulary to young learners. The data were gathered through a semi-structured interview with two English Teachers at the Qur'an Learning Center, one of the elementary schools in Jakarta Selatan. The result of this study revealed that teachers believe that teaching strategy is essential for teaching vocabulary to young learners. Thus, the teachers have various strategies that can be applied for teaching vocabulary to young learners, for example, using games, sing a song, and others. Also, the teachers used interesting media like video, a real thing, pictures, and others. Those strategies are effective in engaging students to learn new vocabulary in English. This study is expected to give reference and knowledge for the English teacher who teaches young learners so they could implement some suitable ways with their real class.
An Evaluation of Implementing Task Based Language Teaching TBLT to Teach Gram...ijtsrd
The combination of TBLT and traditional teaching methods encourages students to be more involved in communicative activities as well as guaranteed to master the target grammar by teacher’ being a model. They are required to listen carefully to teacher, and then students have themselves recognize what they need to do correctly. This minimizes students’ making mistakes while still enables fluency. More importantly, teacher no longer dominates classroom. In the light of TBLT, grammar is conveyed through completing communicative tasks which let students experience English grammar from meaning to form. In other words, the students were introduced meanings, functions of a certain grammar point through communicative tasks first, and then either the teacher or the students themselves explored the form and the teacher helped them build on what they know. This way of teaching and learning has never taken place before, so it is hoped that students experience it in a very positive way. Task based language teaching TBLT , if applied correctly to instruct grammar, will balance communicative competence and linguistic forms. Nguyen Hong Ngoc "An Evaluation of Implementing Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) to Teach Grammar to Adolescent Learners in Vietnam" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-5 | Issue-1 , December 2020, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd38194.pdf Paper URL : https://www.ijtsrd.com/humanities-and-the-arts/english/38194/an-evaluation-of-implementing-taskbased-language-teaching-tblt-to-teach-grammar-to-adolescent-learners-in-vietnam/nguyen-hong-ngoc
The Effect of Using English Language only and Not Using the Mother Tongue in ...inventionjournals
The Effect of Using English Language only and Not Using the Mother Tongue In Teaching Units Fifteen and Sixteen for the Students of Sixth Primary Class on their Acquisition of English Language
HEY! LET’S LEARN NEW WORDS: USING ENGLISH SONGS TO ENHANCE VOCABULARY ACQUI...Anbukkarasi Kannan
The main objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness of using English songs to improve vocabulary knowledge among 30 form three students of a government secondary school in Semenyih, Selangor. A vocabulary test (pre-test), an oral survey on attitudes towards learning vocabulary and observation were conducted before the intervention. the intervention – “Let’s learn new words” was carried out with English songs for three times over a three-week course. After the intervention, a post-test, an oral survey on attitudes towards learning vocabulary and observation were conducted. Results at the end of the study revealed that the experimental group experienced an increase in the vocabulary knowledge. Meanwhile, the qualitative results revealed that most of the students have positive attitude towards learning vocabulary after the intervention. All in all, the findings showed that song-based activities are useful tools to reinforce learning of vocabulary by providing an enjoyable classroom atmosphere. Hence, it is highly recommended that English Language teachers use English songs to teach vocabulary in schools.
The problems of Fluency in Spoken English among EFL Learners in Saudi Univers...AJHSSR Journal
ABSTRACT : This study aims to investigate the problems and challenges which is usually experienced by
English learner's students in the Saudi universities when trying to speak English. It also checks at the problems
that students face when learning English language in Saudi universities and try to find remedies to this problem.
The research uses a questionnaire, interviews, and descriptive methods in the collection of data about fluency in
English language in universities in KSU as an example. The data was then statistically analyzed using the SPSS
program. The results showed that there are various problems which hinder fluency of English learning in the
universities and among them include: under-qualified teachers, unsuitable teaching materials and the methods
used in teaching are also poor. The other problem is the psychological factor which makes student lack
motivation while learning English. The study also contains ways in which these problems can be handled to
bring efficiency in learning and teaching English in Saudi universities.
KEYWORDS: The challenges of fluency in spoken English among the EFL students.
In recent years, preschool education in China is facing great chances, but there are some challenges as well. There is a lack of qualified preschool English teachers, and many graduates majoring in preschool education in secondary vocational school fail to meet the requirements of English Curriculum for Secondary Vocational School (2009). In order to solve the problems, more and more English teachers are exploring new teaching methods, among which situational teaching method is widely accepted. This method has been used in English teaching in Chinese primary and middle schools. However, little attention has been paid to situational teaching method in English class in secondary vocational school. Therefore, the paper aims to explore strategies in situational teaching method in English class for preschool education majors in secondary vocational school.
Enriching Vocabulary to the Students of English as Second Language Learners (...Naresh Arruri
This paper focuses on enriching vocabulary to the students of the English as Second
Language learner (ESL) through the approach Content–Integrated–Language–Learning
(CILL). Previously many approaches have been developed, such as language across
curriculum, task based instruction, activity based communicating (ABC model) instruction,
content based instruction and immersion programmes etc. In this paper I shall present a
model for learning Vocabulary of English as Second Language Learner through his/her
preferred content.
The Libyan Ministry of Education has taken important steps to introduce English from the 1st grade (age 6) since autumn semester 2018/2019, yet without taking into considerations the issues that will be faced in teaching English in primary schools. This study, therefore, aimed to identify the issues encountered in the teaching of English from the 1st grade to the 4th grade in primary schools in Elqubba, a city in Eastern Libya and how to overcome these issues. Data were collected through focussed observations and semistructured interviews. The findings revealed that crowded classrooms, lack of teaching tools and equipments, insufficient exposure to the target language, extensive use of Arabic language, some deficiencies in "English for Libya" coursebooks, poor knowledge of teaching methods, and non-English major teachers were the challenges faced in teaching English. Directions are proposed to overcome these issues.
Eil implications for policy and pedagogycjeremysykes
English as an International Language: Implications for Policy and Pedagogy address the issue of how we need to change our overall thinking as English Instructors in a world where more Non-native speakers use English between themselves than native speakers do.
Similar to Challenges in Teaching English to Young Learners in Primary Stage: A Case Study on the Primary Schools in the State of Kuwait (20)
The purpose of this study was to determine how parenting contributes to deviancy in school among students at Bokamoso Junior Secondary School. The study was a descriptive survey in which a questionnaire was administered to Form 2 and Form 3 students of Bokamoso Secondary School to collect data. The results were then presented using mean and standard deviation. The results showed that majority of students were male around the age of 16-20 years. The results further revealed that parental involvement has a significant influence on students being deviant, which was given by an average mean of 2.55 which is above the criterion mean of 2.50 and average standard deviation of 0.572. It was concluded that parenting is factor associated with a deviancy amongst students at Bokamoso Secondary School. It was therefore recommended that they should be a joint disciplinary council consisting of parents or guardian, teachers and school management which usually recommends on how to deal or act on certain offences depending on the gravity of offences.
This paper studies the pattern of students’ movement within and around the various classes of degrees in Modibbo Adama University of Technology, Yola, Nigeria. In this paper, a transition matrix was developed for the five classes of degrees using movement patterns in ten consecutive semesters (2011 – 2016). The probabilities of moving across the five different classes was obtained. Furthermore, a fundamental matrix was obtained to determine the expected number of students who stay within each particular class (stayers).
This study endeavoured to establish the characteristics of effective teachers and how these characteristics assisted teachers to improve learner performance. To address this aim, a case study design was employed as a methodology for the study, consisting of five rural schools. A literature study was conducted, alongside semi-structured individual interviews with five school principals and focus group interviews with twenty eight teachers from the same rural schools from where school principals were drawn. The collected data was analysed thematically, by establishing themes and their emerging categories. The established themes and their categories were interpreted and discussed to answer the research questions. The major findings of the study revealed that an effective teacher has a blend of three characteristics, namely, professional characteristics, personality characteristics and social characteristics. The blend of characteristics contribute to the quality of teaching and learning processes. The study recommended that educational practitioners in diversity should be cognisant of the characteristics of effective teachers and nurture them appropriately as these characteristics have a life-transforming effects on the lives of the learners.
This study endeavoured to establish the characteristics of effective teachers and how these characteristics assisted teachers to improve learner performance. To address this aim, a case study design was employed as a methodology for the study, consisting of five rural schools. A literature study was conducted, alongside semi-structured individual interviews with five school principals and focus group interviews with twenty eight teachers from the same rural schools from where school principals were drawn. The collected data was analysed thematically, by establishing themes and their emerging categories. The established themes and their categories were interpreted and discussed to answer the research questions. The major findings of the study revealed that an effective teacher has a blend of three characteristics, namely, professional characteristics, personality characteristics and social characteristics. The blend of characteristics contribute to the quality of teaching and learning processes. The study recommended that educational practitioners in diversity should be cognisant of the characteristics of effective teachers and nurture them appropriately as these characteristics have a life-transforming effects on the lives of the learners.
This study determined the prevalence of se1f regulatory skills (behavioural, emotional,verbal) and assessed the level of social competence of primary school pupils in Osun State. The study further examined the influence of self-regulatory skills and social competence on primary school pupils’ academic achievement. These were with a view to providing information on the association between Self-regulation and Social Competence in relation to lower Primary School Pupils’ academic achievement in Osun State Nigeria. The study adopted the correlational survey research design. The population for the study comprised primary III pupils in Osun State. Sample size consisted of 418 Primary III pupils selected using the multistage sampling procedure. Firstly, from the three Senatorial districts in Osun State, nine Local Government Areas (LGAs) were selected using simple random sampling technique (three from each senatorial district). Secondly, in each LGA, two primary schools were selected using simple random sampling technique. Thirdly, eighteen intact classes of primary Ill pupils were selected from each of the selected schools using the simple random sampling technique.The three instruments used for this study were: Sell-Regulation Observation Scale (SROS) Teachers Rating Scale (TRS); and Pupils’ Achievement Test (PAT). Data was analyzed using percentage and chi-square. The results showed that the level of primary school pupils’ behavioural self-regulatory skill was low (30%), emotional self-regulatory skill was at average (43%) while the verbal self-regulatory skill was low (27%). Overall, the level of self-regulatory skills of primary school pupils’ was low (39%). The results also indicated that the level of’ manifestation of social competence was high (64%). Results further showed that there was a statistically significant influence of self-regulatory skills and social competence on primary school pupils’ academic achievement (x2= 873.532, p<0.05). The study concluded that whilst Self-regulatory skill contributed little to pupils‘ academic achievement, Social Competence greatly influenced primary school pupils’ academic achievement in Osun State.
With growth in enrollment in online courses at the university level, the quality of those courses is coming under increased scrutiny. This study surveyed faculty with experience in online, onsite, and blended courses to identify factors most likely to impede student success in online courses as well as strategies to improve online courses. The most common responses for why students might find online courses more challenging focus in the areas time management, student-teacher interaction, and motivation. The strategies for improving student success in online courses fall into the categories of assignments, teaching strategies, and training for both faculty and students. Steps for students to take before enrolling in an online course and tips for faculty who want to teach online courses for the first time are also included as appendices.
This paper focused on analysis of emergence of criminal groups in Dar es Salaam city and Zanzibar town. Data collection was based on in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. Content analysis was used in analysis of data collected from the study. The study findings revealed that youths are vulnerable and susceptible to criminal activities due to corruption, fake promises from politicians, education systems, laxity of parental or guardians’ care and inspiration of children to live luxurious life. In addition, the study recommended to take proper moves that police operation and other government authorities undertake on use of force that cannot end such societal challenges. Instead, the government should provide education system, which is skilled oriented to enable young people to employ themselves. In addition, more efforts are needed to fight corruption from low level to high level of government system.
Zambian communities are rich with voices of the value of adult education, albeit unsystematically documented. It is these insightful voices that this article unveils. Phenomenological research design was employed. Three research sites were targeted comprising two chiefdoms and covering four villages, two villages from each chief dom. Data was collected using interviews and focus group discussions. After coding the data, narrative and thematic methods of data analysis were used. Findings reveal that the value of adult education is measured informally by the number of the adult population able to access social amenities equitably and equally on one hand, and on the other, by their ability to read the ‘word and the world’ as purported by Freire and Macedo (1987).
Despite a healthy production of teachers, teacher attrition is a significant concern facing school administrators across the state of Texas. This study sought to determine the extent to which questions on the Exit and Principal Surveys reflect three sets of standards which guide educator preparation in Texas: Association of Teacher Educators (ATE) Standards for Teacher Educators, Texas Administrative Code (TAC) Educator Preparation Program Curriculum Standards, and Pedagogy and Professional Responsibilities (PPR) Exam Standards. This analysis provides important information about the validity of survey questions as a measure of standards compliance for educator preparation in Texas and also sought to determine if there is a difference between teacher candidates’ Exit Survey evaluation of preparation and principals’ Principal Survey evaluation of first-year teachers’ preparation. Findings indicated a clear disconnect. Recommendations are provided as contributions for future discussion on much needed educator preparation program standards reform.
The study sought to investigate the effect of individual counselling on academic performance of underachievers’ pupil in Maimusari Public Primary School, Jere local Government Area, Borno State, Nigeria. The objectives of the study were to examine the nature and causes of underachievement in Maimusari Public Primary School, also the effect of individual counselling on academic performance of the underachievers’ pupil. Based on these objectives, two research questions and one null hypothesis were answered and tested respectively. Quasi-experimental design was used for the study. Twenty-two underachieving pupils were purposively sampled from the population of the study. Both questionnaire and interview were used as method of data collection; Effect of Individual Counselling on Underachievers in Public Primary Schools (EICUPPS) and interview schedule. The data collected was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings of the study discovered that coming late to school, not having complete learning material, depression, anxiety and teachers attitude in the classroom were the major causes of underachievement in Maimusari primary school. The study also revealed that individual counselling has helped the pupils in overcoming their learning barriers. It is therefore, concluded that individual counselling has significant effect on underachievement among pupils of public primary school in Maiduguri, Borno State. It is recommended among others that class teachers need to be oriented on how to identify underachieving pupils in their various classes and inform the appropriate authority for proper management.
The study contributes to the on-going debate regarding the significance of early childhood teachers’ instructional decision-making that take into consideration their theoretical knowledge (explicit theories) and practical experiences (implicit theories) and how they impact their instructional decision-making processes in diverse socio-cultural contexts of children. To address this gap in the literature, a qualitative multi-case study into the perceptions and classroom practices of four kindergarten teachers in two Ghanaian schools, Tata and Kariba, was carried out over a six-month period. One research question that sought to explore factors and beliefs influencing teachers’ instructional decision-making in a kindergarten classroom guided the study. Data sources used were semi-structured individual interviews and pair-based interviews and fieldnotes of classroom observations. Both within and across case interpretative analysis, as outlined. The study’s findings revealed that these teachers’ explicit theories and implicit theories of teaching influenced their instructional decision-making processes in kinder garten classrooms.
The study aimed to evaluate the “Human resource management for vocational schools at Bac Ninh province, Viet Nam: A model of faculty development program”. It concentrated on evaluating the existing Human resource management for vocational schools of the province, determining demographic profile of the respondents, profile of vocational schools. In order to come up with this analysis, a survey covering 50 specific vocational schools is implemented aiming to assess current status of the development of contingent of teachers and the factors affecting the development of teaching staff for vocational schools in Bac Ninh province such as Human resource planning; Recruitment and selection; Training and development Retention and maintenance; Promotion; Labor relations; and Transfer and retirement. Thereby, identifing the limitations in Human resource management of vocational schools. Based from all the findings of this study, the following conclusions were derived: The human resource management of vocational schools on Bac Ninh province still limited. Human resources in sufficient quantity, but the structure is not reasonable, lack of highly qualified and experienced faculty. Support policies are not sufficient to motivate faculty and attract highly qualified human resources. From the cited summary of findings and conclusions, the following are hereby recommended: Re-examining all the plans and programs for the Quality of Human Resource so that necessary updating and modification can be done; Strongly focusing on recruitment process and policies of training and retraining human resources, Specific strategies for implementing these plans must also be considered. Conducting regular evaluation of all the programs must be implemented.
The study investigated the differences in leadership styles exhibited by principals of public Colleges of Education in Ghana in relation to their sex, age, years of work experience, and academic qualification. The cross-sectional survey design was adopted for the study. The target population was made up of all 46 principals of public Colleges of Education in Ghana. The target population consisted of all 38 public Colleges of Education which were in existence before the absorption of eight private Colleges of Education by the government of Ghana into public system. The purposive sampling technique was used to select 38 principals for the study. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire developed by Bass and Avolio (2004) was adapted to collect data. Means, standard deviations, t-test and ANOVA were used to analyse the data. The findings revealed that there were no statistically significant differences in the leadership styles of the principals of public Colleges of Education in Ghana based on their sex, age, and academic qualification. However, there were statistically significant differences in the leadership styles adopted by the principals in relation to their years of work experience. It was therefore concluded that many years of experience of principals of public CoEs in Ghana is critical for good leadership in these colleges. Among the recommendations was that the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) should consider years of work experience in the selection and appointment of principals for public Colleges of Education in Ghana. Additionally, in-service training and refresher courses should be organized regularly by NCTE for principals on the leadership styles suitable for achievement of objectives and goals of their colleges.
The study examines the effect of improvisation of teacher-made instructional media on students’ performance in some selected primary science concepts. Thus, a pre-test and post-test, non-randomized experimental design was adopted for the study. Three thousand, three hundred and sixty-eight (3,368) primary six pupils from 48 public primary schools in Akwa Ibom State formed the population while two hundred and nineteen primary six pupils from two schools formed the sample for the study. The two intact classes were exposed to standard and improvised science equipment. A Primary Science Performance Test (PSPT) instrument was used to collect data before and after each lesson. A t-test statistical analysis revealed that there is no significant difference of the post-test performance of intact classes exposed to improvised science equipment and those standard equipment indicating that pupils benefited equally from the standardized and improvised equipment with t-calculated score of 1.34 below the t-critical 2.92. It is recommended that the government should organize workshop on the use of improvised materials to change the orientation of the teacher centred instructional approach to teaching primary science.
Child and Youth Care (CYC) students have the right to be engaged in pedagogical practices that inspire and arouse their curiosity about their field of practice. Undergraduate course-based research in which students have an opportunity to conduct authentic research within a for-credit course is one such high-impact pedagogical practice with a growing body of evidence-based outcomes. This article presents an undergraduate course-based research project that examined child and youth care student’s beliefs about displaying love as a component of their practice. Located in the constructivist/interpretive research paradigm, this course-based research project collected data through the use of an expressive arts-based data method followed by a semi-structured questionnaire. Four overarching themes were identified during the thematic analysis: (a) authentic caring involves expressions of love, (b) expressions of love are an essential component of growth and development, (c) loving care as an ethic of relational practice, and (d) but…professionalism stands in the way. The results of this course-based study suggest that expressing love as a component of relational-centred CYC practice is not fully understood by CYC students and that much more research is needed to explore this issue.
This research describes an attempt to establish a pedagogically useful list of the most frequent semantically non-compositional multi-word combinations for English for Journalism learners in an EFL context, who need to read English news in their field of study. The list was compiled from the NOW (News on the Web) Corpus, the largest English news database by far. In consideration of opaque multi-word combinations in widespread use and pedagogical value, the researcher applied a set of selection criteria when using the corpus. Based on frequency, meaningfulness, and semantic non-compositionality, a total of 318 non-compositional multi-word combinations of 2 to 5 words with the exclusion of phrasal verbs were selected and they accounted for approximately 2% of the total words in the corpus. The list, not highly technical in nature, contains the most commonly-used multi-word units traversing various topic areas and news readers may encounter these phrasal expressions very often. As with other individual word lists, it is hoped that this opaque expressions list may serve as a reference for English for Journalism teaching.
The main objective of this study is to explore how podcasting can be implemented in teaching English as a Second Language as a supportive technological tool and thus contribute to the development of positive attitudes and beliefs of the learners. To this aim, the field experiment research was conducted. The study was carried out in a total of 28 pupils of the first grade of high school at an educational institution on Rhodes, Greece in February 2018. The students were assigned into the experimental group (15 students) and the control group (13 students). The results of the research have shown a positive change in students’ attitudes and beliefs, though no statistically significant difference has arisen regarding the students’ interest in the course, their self-confidence in English, the role of gender in learning English and the difficulties students come across when studying English. Similarly, no significant change has occurred regarding the usefulness of English, the importance of the English accent and the knowledge of another foreign language as a contributing factor to learning English more easily. Finally, a negative change was found regarding difficulties in oral communication in English.
One of the challenges of higher education focuses on the improvement of personal and professional skills of students, with the aim of strengthening strategies that include cutting-edge resources in the learning process. The appropriate use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in teaching work as support in face-to-face mode, has a significant impact on engineering professionals. With the correct handling of instruments, strategies, evaluations and educational materials mediated by technologies, which provide great advantages, where the student can work at their own pace and improve the synchronous and asynchronous communication channels with the teacher and their classmates to develop skills and acquire experiences. This work presents the incorporation of educational resources in virtual scenarios as support to the learning units taught in face-to-face modality in the Interdisciplinary Professional Unit of Engineering campus Guanajuato (UPIIG), with the purpose of reinforcing in the student self-management of knowledge to discover new teaching experiences and motivate them in the achievement of meaningful learning.
This study aims to recognize effectiveness methods of teaching skills in primary school in English , the researcher used the numbered heads together strategy as an effective method in education skills, the researcher used an experimental design with two groups (control group and experiment group), with a post-test for the achievement of Al-Khamaal Primary school , Fifth class , The sample of the study consisted of (60) pupils at Al-Khamaal Primary school in English, for the academic year (2018-2019). The researcher equaled the two research groups statistically by ( age by months, the marks of the last year, the achievement of the parents), so there were no statistical significance between the two groups in variables. The researcher used a test to collect data. The analysis of the data showed that the numbered heads together strategy has a great effect in teaching skills at primary schools. At the end of this study, the researcher presented some recommendations. These recommendations that focus on paying more attention to the learning strategies that used to improve educational process, moreover, teacher at primary schools should use effective strategies and effective methods in teaching skills.
The study investigates the impact of using blogs on the development of critical thinking skills among learners of the faculty of education who are enrolled in Arabic language course. The study has been applied to 90 male and female learners from the Faculty of Education at the Middle East University. The researcher has used a semi-experimental approach and the equivalent set method, since it fits the purposes of the study. Watson-Glaser™ Critical Thinking Appraisal has been used in developing a test to measure learners’ level of critical thinking skills. The study revealed statistically significant differences at the significance level of (0.01) in favor of the experimental group regarding Inference, Deduction, Recognition of Assumptions and Interpretation dimensions. The results also revealed statistically significant differences at the level of significance (0.05) in favor of the experimental groups regarding Recognition of Assumptions dimension. Moreover, the study unveiled statistically significant differences at the level of significance (0.01) between the experimental group and control group that can be attributed to critical thinking skills in favor of the experimental group. There are also statistically significant differences at the level (0.01) of significance, between the pre and post evaluation regarding argument evaluation, interpretation and inference skills in favor of the post evaluation. Differences were significant in identifying the hypotheses and deviations at the level of (0.05) in favor of the post-evaluation. Finally, it became clear that statistically significant differences at a level of significance less than (0.05) exist between the pre and post evaluations in favor of the post-evaluation of critical thinking skills.
Students, digital devices and success - Andreas Schleicher - 27 May 2024..pptxEduSkills OECD
Andreas Schleicher presents at the OECD webinar ‘Digital devices in schools: detrimental distraction or secret to success?’ on 27 May 2024. The presentation was based on findings from PISA 2022 results and the webinar helped launch the PISA in Focus ‘Managing screen time: How to protect and equip students against distraction’ https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/managing-screen-time_7c225af4-en and the OECD Education Policy Perspective ‘Students, digital devices and success’ can be found here - https://oe.cd/il/5yV
Read| The latest issue of The Challenger is here! We are thrilled to announce that our school paper has qualified for the NATIONAL SCHOOLS PRESS CONFERENCE (NSPC) 2024. Thank you for your unwavering support and trust. Dive into the stories that made us stand out!
Palestine last event orientationfvgnh .pptxRaedMohamed3
An EFL lesson about the current events in Palestine. It is intended to be for intermediate students who wish to increase their listening skills through a short lesson in power point.
Instructions for Submissions thorugh G- Classroom.pptxJheel Barad
This presentation provides a briefing on how to upload submissions and documents in Google Classroom. It was prepared as part of an orientation for new Sainik School in-service teacher trainees. As a training officer, my goal is to ensure that you are comfortable and proficient with this essential tool for managing assignments and fostering student engagement.
Synthetic Fiber Construction in lab .pptxPavel ( NSTU)
Synthetic fiber production is a fascinating and complex field that blends chemistry, engineering, and environmental science. By understanding these aspects, students can gain a comprehensive view of synthetic fiber production, its impact on society and the environment, and the potential for future innovations. Synthetic fibers play a crucial role in modern society, impacting various aspects of daily life, industry, and the environment. ynthetic fibers are integral to modern life, offering a range of benefits from cost-effectiveness and versatility to innovative applications and performance characteristics. While they pose environmental challenges, ongoing research and development aim to create more sustainable and eco-friendly alternatives. Understanding the importance of synthetic fibers helps in appreciating their role in the economy, industry, and daily life, while also emphasizing the need for sustainable practices and innovation.
Welcome to TechSoup New Member Orientation and Q&A (May 2024).pdfTechSoup
In this webinar you will learn how your organization can access TechSoup's wide variety of product discount and donation programs. From hardware to software, we'll give you a tour of the tools available to help your nonprofit with productivity, collaboration, financial management, donor tracking, security, and more.
The Roman Empire A Historical Colossus.pdfkaushalkr1407
The Roman Empire, a vast and enduring power, stands as one of history's most remarkable civilizations, leaving an indelible imprint on the world. It emerged from the Roman Republic, transitioning into an imperial powerhouse under the leadership of Augustus Caesar in 27 BCE. This transformation marked the beginning of an era defined by unprecedented territorial expansion, architectural marvels, and profound cultural influence.
The empire's roots lie in the city of Rome, founded, according to legend, by Romulus in 753 BCE. Over centuries, Rome evolved from a small settlement to a formidable republic, characterized by a complex political system with elected officials and checks on power. However, internal strife, class conflicts, and military ambitions paved the way for the end of the Republic. Julius Caesar’s dictatorship and subsequent assassination in 44 BCE created a power vacuum, leading to a civil war. Octavian, later Augustus, emerged victorious, heralding the Roman Empire’s birth.
Under Augustus, the empire experienced the Pax Romana, a 200-year period of relative peace and stability. Augustus reformed the military, established efficient administrative systems, and initiated grand construction projects. The empire's borders expanded, encompassing territories from Britain to Egypt and from Spain to the Euphrates. Roman legions, renowned for their discipline and engineering prowess, secured and maintained these vast territories, building roads, fortifications, and cities that facilitated control and integration.
The Roman Empire’s society was hierarchical, with a rigid class system. At the top were the patricians, wealthy elites who held significant political power. Below them were the plebeians, free citizens with limited political influence, and the vast numbers of slaves who formed the backbone of the economy. The family unit was central, governed by the paterfamilias, the male head who held absolute authority.
Culturally, the Romans were eclectic, absorbing and adapting elements from the civilizations they encountered, particularly the Greeks. Roman art, literature, and philosophy reflected this synthesis, creating a rich cultural tapestry. Latin, the Roman language, became the lingua franca of the Western world, influencing numerous modern languages.
Roman architecture and engineering achievements were monumental. They perfected the arch, vault, and dome, constructing enduring structures like the Colosseum, Pantheon, and aqueducts. These engineering marvels not only showcased Roman ingenuity but also served practical purposes, from public entertainment to water supply.
Challenges in Teaching English to Young Learners in Primary Stage: A Case Study on the Primary Schools in the State of Kuwait
1. Research Journal of Education
ISSN(e): 2413-0540, ISSN(p): 2413-8886
Vol. 5, Issue. 5, pp: 69-77, 2019
URL: https://arpgweb.com/journal/journal/15
DOI: https://doi.org/10.32861/rje.55.69.77
Academic Research Publishing
Group
*Corresponding Author
69
Original Research Open Access
Challenges in Teaching English to Young Learners in Primary Stage: A Case
Study on the Primary Schools in the State of Kuwait
Hussain Al-Ali
Department of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) MA, Faculty of Education and Society, The University of Sunderland,
Sunderland City, UK
Katy Mann*
Department of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) MA Katy Mann Faculty of Education and Society, The University of
Sunderland, Sunderland City, UK
Abstract
The aim of this research paper is to identify the the perceptions of teachers of English language about the main
challenges in teaching primary stage pupils; and to recognize the challenges that are experienced locally in the five
educational areas available in the state of Kuwait. Both qualitative and quantitative methods have been applied
because data are supposed to be in the form of numbers. The survey was provided by a hard copy to about (20)
teachers of English language in the state of Kuwait. The survey itself consisted of two sections. The first section
refers to some sort of a ranking question. That means the teachers ordered the factors that may develop teaching
English to young learners according to their point of views. The second section of the survey included an open
question as follows: Which aspect do you think the most challenging in teaching young pupils and why? The results
revealed that teachers of English are challenged by several factors including lack of training, resources and
acknowledge. Most teachers suffered from lack of time to teach; particularly, teaching writing and grammar.
Keywords: Local challenges; Young learners; Teaching English; Discipline; Motivation; Differentiation; Grammar; Speaking;
Writing; The class size.
CC BY: Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0
1. Introduction
Teaching means outcome of teachers' perception. The way of how learners understand is mainly the crucial
point of the philosophy of teaching itself. That also revoloves around the most suitable ways of teaching learners as
well as the appropriate practices those are to be applied in the classroom. Teaching also means the way of how one
teacher develops his or her skills and abilities in specific areas. Encouraging learners, controlling in classroom and
planning all refer to teachers maxims that function as rules for better behaviour. Teaching English is always required
to be explored in teachers' perceptions so it is quite important to avoid mechanical teaching or reutilization without
even thinking of how important is what is being taught to pupils in the classroom so that teachers of English can
develop their educational experiences and standards.
Teachers' belief structure is not complicated since it is multi faced and interconnected. What is really considered
as the most effective in teachers' beliefs on teaching English to young learners is behaviour and practice that are both
ultimately related to their thinking and information process .So the ultimate work that is done by the teacher in the
classroom is his or her beliefs whether there is awareness of philosophy of teaching English or not. However,
teachers' beliefs are so necessary to the process of teaching and teachers should be familiar with their own
philosophers, theories and beliefs. Their personal reflection ought to be always recorded so that they can be able to
understand how these beliefs and philosophies impact their classroom practices. However, teaching English is not
supposed to handle any obstacles so that all young learners can learn English very well and in an effective ways'
particularly, during the the elementary stage that is considered as one of the most stage the learner passes through
towards he next stages in his educational life.
2. The Research Questions
The research paper is to respond to two questions: 1) what are the perceptions of teachers of English language
about the main challenges in teaching primary stage pupils in the state of Kuwait? 2) What challenges are
experienced locally in the five educational areas available in the state of Kuwait?
3. Theoretical Significance
Some pressing challenges have been identified by the literature on teaching English to primary stage pupils. One
basic challenge indicates that English as a subject is a compulsory one at the primary stage without any appropriate
consideration who will teach it. Consequently, teachers may find themselves teach English to young learners without
at least any training courses or adequate experience (Hu, 2007).
Pedagogy is also another basic challenge to teachers of English language whether such pedagogy includes
appropriate skills to all different levels of young learners or not (Kunnan, 2005).
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70
So the research papers aims to recognise the obstacles and challenges teachers of primary English language may
encounter across a number of educational areas available in the state of Kuwait. The research paper is also to identify
the variation and the expected causes for such a variation locally.
4. Literature Review
One of the most basic development policies in education is to develop teaching English in the primary stage that
is considered as the main basis of the coming stages (Johnstone, 2009). It is also because the the most widespread
language used in the whole world is English. Hu (2007), and Nunan (2003), argued that the significance of teaching
English for young learners is supported by so many researchers in all parts of the world because of several reasons.
Firstly, it is very necessary to begin teaching English from the early years. Secondly, the common use of English
leads to a great economic globalization. Therefore, a huge number of governments began to support the idea of
having English using beside the first language. Thirdly, it is higly prefered that children begin learning English in so
that they can learn any new technologies in any field they may be intereseted in the future. As a result, most
governments do not mind to introduce English to young learners freely in so many countries around the world.
As a global lingua franca, there has been frequently criticism of the English growth. Coleman (2011),
challenged understanding of English popularity and status. Discussion revokes question about the premises in which
teaching English for young learners; particularly, during the primary stage are predicted. Kumaravadivelu (2011) is
greatly agree on Western approaches adoption to learning English language that helps in spreading English but he
argued thay such a process may get England and the United States continue to benefit from such a widespread use of
English politically and economocically. To fulfill the tasks of teaching young learners must be the mission of
teachers around the world but this requires using pedagogic approach that must be suitable to pupils learning English
(Pillar and Cho, 2013).
A number of challenges have been identified by the literature on teaching young learners English language;
particularly, from the beginning. One of such challenge relates to the trend that believes that the pupils must study
English at any cost; specially, in the elementary stage without any taking care of who is going to teach those young
learners. What is really a serious problem is that there is a large number of foreign instructors of English who are not
actually qualified to teach English in so many primary schools around as reported by the International Bank either
because of the lack of training courses or because some teachers graduated from weak or unauthonticated
universities or colleges (Nunan, 2003).
So many teachers may find themselves teach English without even teaching aids as in rural and poor countries
in which the curriculum itself is impacted by the policy decisions. Young learners need communication skills on
basic knowledge of English as a lingua franca. Therefore, most curriculum of young learners began to emphasize the
competence of communication that; consequently, led to (CLT) that actually stands for linguistics communicative
language teaching that is applied in some Asian countries and some areas in the Middle East (Ahn, 2011).
However, teachers of English may find it is highly difficult to deal effectively with any new approaches for
many courses. One of these causes is that so many teachers may see (CLT) as an approach that is can be just applied
in western countries not only to young learners but also to adults within small groups rather than big ones as in poor
countries. So (CLT); as a result, would not be appropriate for those young learners who use English as a second
language. Moreover, poor countire suffer from limited resources such as linguistics labs and teaching aids
(Littlewood, 2007).
Teachers of English may just receive a basic physical training that get them struggle to apply CLT effectively in
classrooms. Pedagogy also has to do with selecting appropriate resources. Text books that are prescribed in some
countries but teachers in other countries is allowed to select approved books as in China and Singapore (Mee, 2003).
However, many countries have not got appropriate text books to teach young learners English in classrooms
(Mathew and Pani, 2009).
The lack of facilities in primary schools is the main problem faced by teachers of English as well as insufficient
funds for such facilities as in South Korea. İnal (2009), argued the teachers of English in the primary stage are not
always able to access to the technology benefits to enhance English teaching during the recent years. The lack of
confidence as well as the law professional level of teachers of English is both another challenges for teaching
English in the primary schools (Baker, 2008). CLT requires; as many teachers believe, special procedures in
classrooms including teaching English in a target language that may lead to tension and anxiety among teachers of
English in regard with their competence levels in various English basic skills (Kuchah, 2009).
Teachers of English believe that crowded and big classes are a common issue to young learners. So they believe
it is impossible to apply CLT in such large classes in the light of the absence of appropriate curriculum that may
support the idea of CLT itself at least. CLT needs pairwork and group work to be a successful way but such an
approach can not be applied in large and crwoded classrooms. Teachers of English do not prefer any type of noise
when they teach young learners various activities of speaking (Carless, 2004). It is quite difficult to motivate young
people's because they may find difficulties in learning English relevance as they do not usually listen to or even
speak with native speaker as in the Middle East area (Hu, 2007).
Examinations are not supported by appropriate curriculum or government policies in so many countries. These
examinations focus on just vocabulary and grammar rather than speaking and other skills of English including
listening, writing and reading (Kunnan, 2005). In most cases, young learners may look to their teachers as just
mediators who are jutsreponsible for correcting answers and giving marks. Yet young learners are not encouraged to
do things independently and this will not help to make them more relaxed and more ready to give answers by
themselves (Ahn, 2011).
3. Research Journal of Education
71
Another common challenge is that English is not used widely among young learners. They are supposed to use
English all the time until the end of the class rather than their own native language. Most teachers do not even tend
to use English; meaning that they do not at least ask young pupils simple such as" Does anyone have any question"?
Young learners are supposed to be punished when they begin or try to use their first language during the English
classes by their own teachers. They must guide their young learners by allocating some sort of penalty system that
has not to do with punishment. For example, a young learner has to recite a poem in front of the class when he or she
might be caught using his or her on first language rather than English (Cameron, 2003).
Teachers of English may find their young learners hijack the class; meaning that that the lessons do not go
where teachers of English want them to be. As a result, not all activities will be covered. On or two spoiled pupils
may damage a whole classroom by noisy and the rest of pupils may got lost when teachers of English generally
miscontrol the classroom. This proves young learners do not care of wasting any class and as long as they are not
interacting or participating in English, the class will not be a productive experience at all if the lessons stay too far
from the main topics. Therefore, it is very necessary to teachers of English to fix such a terrible problem by diverting
conversation or by any urgent or successful way (Butler, 2004).
5. Research Methodology
A constructivist approach is so suitable in such a research paper because it is has to with teaching where
everyone in the learning environment is the bearer of knowledge; teachers are concerned with process. Both
qualitative and quantitative methods have been applied because data are supposed to be in the form of numbers
(quantitative method) and words (qualitative method) (Punch, 2016).
The survey helped in giving local results across the targeted educational areas that are available in the state of
Kuwait and uncovering the basic challenges in teaching English to young leraners according to the reponses of
teachers of English who will answer the survey. The variation in challenges was illustrated by the qualitative data.
So an approach of mixed methods was applied for the current research paper. Such approach joins both
qualitative and quantitative elements including point of views, data collection and analysis that helps in deep
understanding and corroboration (Johnstone, 2009).
The mixed methods help also in allowing for a reference framework that acknowledges the man serious issues
related to teaching English for young learners. The variation in challenge was illustrated by the qualitative data. The
survey was provided via hard copy to the research sample that was the instructors of English in elementary schools
in the state of Kuwait. Consequently, a standardized and efficient manner was created since the survey covered
diverse data. The disadvantages of sampling require to be identified. Reis and Judd (2000), argues that the survey
can reflect practices that need to be reported but cannot be represented since there may not be enough responses
across the locations where the respondents live. Standard ratio of respondents is not provided by such type of
sampling. However, opportunistic sampling can be fit to the objective of giving illustrations of the research samples
viewpoints.
Hoque (2009), refers to several issues that are taken from the literature review inlcuding more access to better
technologies on teaching, smaller rather than bigger and crowded classes and so on. The responses were
descriptively analysed later on. Secondly, the question which was" What are the most challenges you face in your
job as a teacher of English?. Such a question appealed so many responses. The answers were collected with
correcting any spelling mistakes using Microsoft office 2003. A number of keywords variable class including
grammar, discipline and motivation were referred to. Other categories were identified by looking for the remaining
data. Each challenge that was recognised was classified separately but all items were considered despite of some
categories with a very small number including appreciation and school activities. The statements were carefully
examined. Results were statistical significance by a Chi square test. Therefore, the measures did not happened by
accident. The teachers of English who completed the survey were the source of interviews and observations. Yes
we'll be ok in all 5 educational areas available and the state of Kuwait. Areas where selected to include basic schools
so as to provide explainations from various sides.
The results were then joined with the answers of survey and classified for each school to produce five different
accounts. For the research paper purpose, separate accounts were regarded as a case study. In all five targeted
educational areas, instant methodology was applied. Firstly, teachers of English were approached because did not
mind be observed. After that, they were asked to be in an interview for gaining some information on the pupils'
classes, the lesson plan and other information related to the observation and interview including classroom materials
and documents of syllabus and policy. At least one teacherwas observed in each school available in each educational
area in the state of Kuwait.
The observation processes relied on an audio recording. Notes were written down. Further interviews were
conducted after the observation via transcripts. The findings from both open and closed questions were filtered in
order to analyse the research paper data. Finally, the fieldnotes and the transcripts of interview were examined in
order to recognise the challenges the teachers of English encounter in the state of Kuwait. Regardering the
demographic information of respondents, most of them are males who are working in primary schools in the state of
Kuwait in all targeted educational areas. Most respondents are around 35 years old while just over a quarter of them
are around 25 years old and the rest are above 40 years old. Most of them have been also teaching young learners for
more than five years. Regarding the level of education, most respondents have at least bachelor's degree in English.
4. Research Journal of Education
72
6. Data Collection
The survey was provided by a hard copy to about (20) teachers of English language in the state of Kuwait. The
survey itself consisted of two sections. The first section refers to some sort of a ranking question. That means the
teachers ordered the factors that may develop teaching English to young learners according to their point of views.
The second section of the survey included an open question as follows: Which aspect do you think the most
challenging in teaching young pupils and why? Such an open question helped so much in attracting more responses
from the sample itself for just an analysis reason. The answers collected and the spelling mistakes were then
corrected by using Word 2003. The most key words that relate to the challenges were then identified. Furthermore,
interviews and observation process with (20) teachers, who completed the survey took place in the five educational
areas available in the state of Kuwait. The participants were asked for some information such as the class, pupils,
lessons plan, materials and so on. The researcher observed at least one lesson that was recorded for an analysis
purpose.
7. Data Analyse
The survey outcomes were filtered by each educational area available in the state of Kuwait in oreder to identify
the local challenges in order to analyse the data. Then, transcripts and filednotes were evaluated to identify the issues
encountered by research sample i.e the targeted (20) teachers who belong to the five educational areas in Kuwait.
8. The Practical Significance of the Research
The research paper is very useful to future researchers, students and other TESOL professionals; particularly, in
the Middle East area since the research papers may clarify to all education officials about one of the most basic
issues which refer to the challenges that the teahers of English in the primary stage may face. Any researcher in such
a field can build the results of the current research papers and conduct more elaborated studies to include; for
example, higher stages such as intermediate and secondary ones. The recommendations that comes eventually may
be also useful to TESOL professionals to help them finding out what are the main weak points in the field of
teaching English and finding out the solutions and recommendation that may overcome all the challenges and
positively influence the level of the academic achievement of students then.
For keeping participants’ identities and personal data confidential and secure during the research, the researcher
first gave the participants a consent form and information as well as a form of sample participant information to get
them aware of what is going on. Then the materials were stored securely; no body could use or see them except the
researcher who kept all information and data on his own labtop so that no one can see them. The researcher also
avoided on-line questionnaires and prefer using a hard copy in which no names or any other private information of
participants could be shown.
8.1. Perceptions of Challenges by the Teachers of English in the State of Kuwait
To answer the research question, a number of ranking questions has been answered by the respondents as shown
in the following figure:
Figure-1. Factors ranking that would develop process of learning and teaching English in Kuwait
5. Research Journal of Education
73
It is clear that the columns on the right are more necessary than those on the left. Less exams/ tests factor is the
most significant factor in developming learning process and teaching English according to the respondents' answers.
Beginning English from early stage is the next necessary factor. What may motivate a similar number of responses
is accessing to resources in levels of English despite their less significance than other factors. One of the most
globally factors is to learn new methods of English teaching. Moreover, more hours of English teaching, smaller size
of classes, more access to resources and technologies are all always of attracting a large number of teachers. Such
necessary outcomes will be deeply discussed below. The second Research question "Which aspect/ factor do you
believe the most challenging in your job as a teacher of English? allowed more detailed information as seen in the
following figure:
Figure-2. The challenges thare were identified by the teachers of English in the primary stage in Kuwait
According to the results that mentioned in the above figure, the challenge that attracted the most comments was
the problems of speaking was about (32) comments. Next, the problem of disciplines, behaviours, managing the
classroom by the teacher, motivation, levels and abilities, disabled learners, students needs and teaching writing;
particularly, in grade 4 and 5 in which pupils are supposed to write a small paragraph on a specific topic with
provided helping words.
8.2. Speaking
Teaching speaking by teachers was the first basic challenge. As a classroom observation processes, such a result
is surprising since teachers find difficulties with such an important skill. Several studies such as Baker (2008), and
Littlewood (2007), identified the level of English of teachers as well as methods of teaching English as being
problematic but these research papers did not identify speaking as a big challenge until nowadays. However, the way
to get pupils to speak is considered as one of the most familiar comments. For instance, teachers can get and
persuade their pupils to use English can be something they are able to do one day. So many pupils may hesitate to
speak English in the classroom. It could be a threat or horror for them. So it is quite important to make pupils from
communicate only in English with the teacher and their classmates according to the comments of respondents. This
process must be far away from trying to speak English by just translating language 1 in the classroom. Teacher said
that it is very difficult to get their Pupisl learn how use perfect pronunciation. Creese and Blackledge (2010), stated
that the first language of pupils could be a basic role in teaching English as just a process of a laguage production.
However, it is still the mission of teachers to get the learners aim for native language as much as they can through
practice.
8.3. Discipline
One Teacher said "disciplines as I am doing my job in our school". Another Teacher said "one of the basic
challenges is those pupils who lack discipline itself". As seen above, the discipline doesn't get pupils motivated
despite several strategies for maintaining. It is done by the teachers in the state of Kuwait. One can say that
discipline has to do with several factors including not sharing the pupils' first language, parental attitudes towards
discipline and differentiation.
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74
8.4. Motivation
Teachers felt they are responsible for their pupils to get them motivated by expanding a good deal of energy in
teaching inside the classroom and activities done by the pupils themselves that are prepared by their teachers.
Teachers of English certainly do before and during the class to make sure the lesson are going well.
8.5. Differentiation
Many teachers of English are dealing with pupils who may differ in individual needs as well as learning stages.
That's because so many pupils are not ready yet to learn another language. They may also have a particular need for
some description. Teachers according to their comments clarified that pupils' knowledge of English is different due
to private tutorials they may take in their homes. Such an issue may create some sort of a differentiation wall
between log achievers and high ones inside the classroom or between poor and rich pupils (Lamb, 2011). However,
teachers always mix between low and medium achievers in the classroom and put them all in the basket of weak
pupils in regard with the academic achievement as revealed in the following comment "focusing on weak pupils who
do not want to learn English". Such a comment gives a complex picture of attitude towards low achievers by
teachers who tend to consider this issue as a problematic one.
8.6. Writing
Why thing is considered as another basic challenge to teaching English in the state of Kuwait; particularly, for
fourth and fifth grades who are supposed to write a full paragraph mainly consisting of four to five sentences on any
given topic from the textbook they learn from. However, many pupils learn to write English by using their first
language meaning that they simultaneously improving literacy in two languages rather than one language.
Apart from spelling problem, two aspects of writing that teachers of English in Kuwait refered to; they are how
to teach pupils to write correctly and how to teach them to write in a creative way. Most pupils as has been observed
just tend to copy words and sentences from the whiteboard, fill in gaps, choose the right answer from a, b, c and
write control sentences written by the teachers themselves. While a few number of pupils may reflect some sort of
creation and innovation such as writing nything from their mnds that may reflect even writing some simple sentences
around any specific topic.Therefor, there seem a big gap between public schools and the private ones in which
learners can write creatively because of the different curriculum applied in such types of schools in the state of
Kuwait that support both creativity and innovation by learners.
8.7. Grammar
Teaching grammar is another basic challenge to teaching English in the primary schools in the state of Kuwait.
Most comments indicate that young learners begin to feel boring when their teachers teach them grammar such as
the difference between simple and past tenses. What is interesting is that the time of the class is not enough to get all
pupils understand grammar well beside the large amount of structures they must cover a week in each unit related to
their textbooks. Cameron (2001), clarifies that some young learners in primary stages may benefit from grammar
when they are given enough time and too much practice.
8.8. The Size of Class
According to the comments of teachers of English, class size is the second most necessary factors that may help
in development processes of learning and teaching. Crowded classes make teachers and young learners confused
since most of them may not get specific points that they have to be familiar with. So if there is too much noise in the
class, more problems may occur and vice versa.
8.9. Local Challenges
To answer the following question: "What challenges are witnessed by teachers of English locally in the state of
Kuwait?", several similarities and differences were examined among the targeted educational areas in Kuwait as
shown in the following table:
Table-1. Outcomes of ranking questions by educational areas available in the state of Kuwai
Factors Al Farwaniya
Educational
Area
Al Asema
Educational
Area
Al Jahra
Educational
Area
Al Ahmadi
Educational
Area
Mubarak Al
Khabir
Educational Area
Learning and teaching in
new methods
3 3 5 1 3
Small size of class 4 4 7 2 5
More access to new
technologies and resources
7 6 8 4 5
Enough hours of teaching
English
6 5 7 6 5
Developing teachers' level
of English
2 8 4 4 4
Teaching English from
earlier stages
2 8 3 3 3
Less exams/ tests 8 7 2 6 7
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Teachers of English in all 5 educational areas in Kuwait indicated that less exams and tests may help in
developing teaching and learning more than other factors. Learning and teaching in in new methods was also little
bit compatible. Most educational areas put this factor as the first or second necessary one among the rest of other
factors. Better and more access to technologies by so many teachers in the targeted educational areas were ranked to
the local challenge. More salient diversity was clear in teachers' attitude towards enough hours of teaching English.
Teaching English from earlier stage can be characterized. Al Ahmadi, Mubarak Al Kabeer and Al Jahra educational
areas tend to follow the usual trend except Al Asema educational area that was ranked as the first one.
The small class size indicated considerable variation among the five educational areas. In Al Jahra educational
area in which most classes were little bit small, it was ranked first. The rest of educational areas were generally
large. Development in English level was ranked fifth. Many teachers of English language; according to several
recent reports made by the International Bank have limited English skills since all teachers in Kuwait are from one
nationality which is Egypt, but still they are required to teach at any cost because of the lack of teachers of English in
the state of Kuwait per year. Overall, these results indicate that challenges teachers of English face are sll common
and myriad; but still they can be met not just in Kuwait but around the world.
9. Conclusion
This research paper focused on a group of issues in teaching English in primary stage in the state of Kuwait. It
has been obvious the teachers of English are challenged by several factors including lack of training, resources and
acknowledge. Most teachers suffered from lack of time to teach; particularly, teaching writing and grammar. If there
is enough time to teach, it will help teachers of English so much inside the classroom and vice versa. Another
challenge that can be made is differentiation. Teachers can be trained to handle such a challenge very well;
particularly, those teachers who do not have a good experience in teaching and learning methodologies. Moreover,
class size is considered as a more local challenge in all educational areas available in the state of Kuwait; therefore,
local educational condition strategies are to mediate such a challenge as possible as they can Matsuda (2006).
Plausibility has to be bulit for teachers of English in order to develop their knowledge and skills to handle all
such mentioned challenges to teach effectively young learners. Such a sense has to go along with developing
pedagogic knowledge that has to be also the aim of any teacher of English (Kumaravadivelu, 2001).
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Appendixes
The survey sheet
According to your own experience, rank the following factors that you think would most develop teaching
English language to elementary pupils in the state of Kuwait:
Smaller classes
More hours for English classes a week
Development in own level of English as teacher
Fewer tests / evluations sheets
Traning in new methodologies of teaching English
Better access to new technologies in teaching English
Changing the curriculum / textbook
Starting English in an earlier stage
What challenges are experienced locally in the five educational areas available in the state of Kuwait?
Factors Al Asema
Educational
Area
Al Jahra
Educational
Area
Mubarak Al-
Khabir
Educational Area
Halli
Educational
Area
Al Farwaniya
Educational
Area
Smaller classes
More hous for English
classes a week
Development in own
leverl of English a
teacher
Fewer tests /
evluations sheets
Traning in new
methodologies of
teaching English
Better access to new
technologies in
teaching English
Changing the
curriculum / textbook
Starting English in an
earlier stage
9. Research Journal of Education
77
The Interview Sheet (An open Question):
Which aspect do you think the most challenging in teaching young pupils and why? (Further factors are
supposed to be given such as motivation, discipline, skills of English, etc.
Ethical Considerations
Please Tick
All participants in my research will be adults over the age of 18 √
All participants in my research will be non-vulnerable adults √
I will aim to have approximately 20 participants √
My research will not involve any sensitive topics √
I understand the principle of entirely voluntary and fully informed consent and will ensure
my participants do as well
√
All participants in my research will receive a research participant information sheet √
I will ensure all participants in my research fully understand the research participant
information sheet
√
I will secure the signature of those consenting to participate in my research on the research
participant consent form
√
I will ensure all participants in my research fully understand the consent form and what
they are consenting to before they sign form
√
I have appended the research participant information sheet with this proposal √
I have appended the participant consent form with this proposal √
I understand that participant identities must be kept strictly confidential and I will not
reveal them or allow them to be uncovered in my research project or my research
presentation
√
I understand that participant identities and their personal data must be kept securely and
strictly confidential in accordance with the Data Protection Act at all stages of my
research*
√
I understand that I should not put myself or my research participants at risk. I understand
that I should not collect data after dark or outside normal working hours, that interviews
should be conducted in public places on campus and not in private homes, and that I
should not expose myself or my participants to dangerous environments.
√